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NEW YORK—The struggling Yankees, without their leader Derek Jeter in the dugout, certainly don’t need umpires giving away runs on missed calls. Trailing by a run in the eighth, Nick Swisher threw behind the Tigers’ Omar Infante as he rounded second base too far. The tag to the chest was clear and on time, but umpire Jeff Nelson missed the call. It led to two add-on runs in a 3-0 Detroit win, giving them control of the ALCS. The Yankees now head to Detroit losers of two straight at home.

“It’s tough, man,” Swisher said. “Obviously, the replay shows he was out by a good bit. He was in the right spot to make the call, so I can’t be angry about that. It’s just more than anything I thought he might have said, ‘Hey man, my fault. I missed that,’ rather than just saying, ‘Let it go.’ That’s a monster play in that situation. That’s a lot different as a one-run game than it is a three-run game.”

Yankee manager Joe Girardi knows the odds are stacked against him without the presence of his captain. Already frustrated by the hand that has been dealt him, Girardi, following the missed call, saw Avisail Garcia single home the second run and as he went out to bring in Joba Chamberlain turned and got himself ejected. It was something he likely felt he had to do.

“I don’t have a problem with Jeff’s effort,” Girardi said. “He hustled to get to the play, but in this day and age when we have instant replay available, it’s got to change. There is more pressure on the pitchers when it is 1-0 in the eighth than when it is 3-0. I would like to take my chances.”

There is replay in place, but only on perimeter calls for home runs, fair or foul, not on balls and strikes or safe and out. Nelson begrudgingly admitted he missed the call.

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“I told him that the hand got in there before he tagged him in the chest,” Nelson told an MLB pool reporter. “Yes, I (saw the replay). The hand did not get in before the tag. The call was incorrect.”

Instead of a 1-0 score in the ninth it was 3-0 and the drama was removed. Trailing by one run vs. the Tigers these days, who knows. Right-handed closer Jose Valverde has been struggling to record outs. But with a three-run lead Jim Leyland didn’t have to manage his committee of relievers — Valverde being told he had the day off. Instead, he was able to simply hand the ball to lefty Phil Coke for the final six outs, facing four left-handed hitters and three from the right.

“Sometimes the game falls in place for a manager and sometimes it doesn’t,” Leyland said. “Things fell in place the way the lineup is set up. You let (Coke) face A-Rod because Granderson was on deck. A couple of guys on and it becomes a tough scenario and you will never be right.”

As for the Yankees missing Jeter, Game 6 of the 1981 World Series was the last time the Yankees entered a post-season game without Jeter or closer Mariano Rivera on the active roster. Rivera was in the dugout, but Jeter will be gone for the duration of this series for tests and then to see a specialist in Charlotte, N.C. It’s a different dugout and clubhouse.

“It was weird not seeing him in his regular spot in the dugout, for sure,” catcher Russell Martin said. “He’s not there with us, but we still think about him and stuff and wish him a good recovery.”

In his absence, the biggest threat in the lineup — maybe the only one now — was DH Raul Ibanez, who was walked intentionally in the sixth for Anibal Sanchez to face Martin.

“He’s the captain and a big part of the team,” Ibanez said of Jeter. “But at the same time we have to battle back and we have to pull together. Our team has been rising to the occasion all season and we’re going to battle back. We’ve got a very talented group of hitters that at any moment can turn this thing around. We’ll do what we’re capable of doing.”

As amazing as it seems, the Tigers won two games in the Bronx, with Doug Fister and Sanchez combining for 13.1 shutout innings. The Yankees have not even faced Justin Verlander yet. They get that pleasure Tuesday in Game 3.

“It doesn’t get much tougher than Verlander,” Martin reiterated. “It doesn’t really matter at this point. We’ve just got to try and find ways to win. Whatever it is, the guys have to step up.”

Girardi is concerned about his team’s lack of offensive production that goes back through the division series against the Orioles and has affected Robinson Cano (0-for-24), A-Rod (3-for-23), Curtis Granderson (3-for-26) and Swisher (4-for-26). It has to change for the Yankees to come back.

“We have to make adjustments,” Girardi said, his frustration shining through. “We know what they are doing to us. You have to make adjustments. They are not going to put it on a tee for us. We know that. We are more than capable of scoring runs. When one team attacks you and has success, you are going to watch what they do. You have to understand what they are doing to you, take what they are doing to you and make adjustments.”

But it was the Tigers’ starter, Sanchez, a mid-season acquisition from the Marlins, who picked up the win against a lineup that even with Jeter had been struggling to score. Sanchez outduelled 37-year-old Japanese right-hander Hiroki Kuroda, who was perfect through five, but lost.

As for Jeter’s plans, he is scheduled to see a foot and ankle specialist, Dr. Robert Anderson, sometime this week to confirm the prognosis of a three-month recovery or to see if surgery might be necessary. He will not join the Yankees in Detroit. By then they may be done.

Whatever you may think of Jeter’s numbers compared to others that play or have played short, there is an intangible that makes him vital. If they are to win the World Series, the Yanks must play as many as 13 games without him.

“It is strange not to see this man on any of your (lineup) cards,” Girardi said. “As far as bringing us down, no. I think the guys want to do it for him. I really do.”

The manager has even taken to quoting Jeter. Girardi’s response whenever asked how he is feeling, even if hurting more than he let on, is: “I’m great, let’s go.”

It almost seems like Girardi on Sunday, both pre- and post-Game 2, was maybe whistling past the graveyard at midnight. The Yankees bats, especially, await their wake-up call.

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